The Art of Planning-Part 3 Filling in the Blanks

Introduction

In Part 2 I addressed the "nuts and bolts of planning. In reading and re-reading that post I realized there was some detail left out. I want to use this post to try and fill in the missing pieces, or in other words fill in the blanks that were left out.

Beginning to write the Season Plan

When you sit down to write your seasonal plan I think it is imperative that you know how you are going to divide up your season. For example I would look at what meet will be the main meet which you will ultimately prepare your swimmers to peak, or taper for in hopes that they will achieve their goal times and swim really fast. Once you have selected this "championship" meet you can take the following steps:

Step 1 The Start
1.  Calculate the number of days in your season. Start by working backwards. Count the number of days from day one of the championship meet back to the first day of the start of your season. This becomes the number of days that you will plan for in the given season. Most seasons will last anywhere from 71 to 120+ days. In American swimming the "short course" season typically runs from September to March or first of April. a typical high school season can be anywhere from 60 to 82 days. A few high school activities associations have seasons that last over 90 days.
2. Determine what your seasonal goals are going to be.
3. Determine, and select the days and dates of your holidays/training breaks, the competitions you want to use as stepping stones to the championship meet.
4. Determine the training phases or periods, and their length and what you feel you need to focus on.
5. Determine how much volume you want to achieve during each of these phases. 

Step 2 Writing the Plan
Before writing the actual plan I recommend that you create your own monthly blank calendar, or obtain a monthly blank calendar either online or at your local Office Depot or Staples. It is easy to create one of your own using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel or another spreadsheet program. I have attached a sample at the end of this blog. The advantage to creating one yourself is that you can organize and put the detail on your calendar that you feel is important.

The next step is for you to divide your season into the training phases/periods that you are comfortable with and are important to you. There have been articles published by US Swimming and ASCA on the phases that you can use. You may have to search for the articles but they are on their respective web sites. I use the following terminology to describe my seasonal plan's phases:

1, Preparation Phase
2. Endurance Phase
3. Specialty Phase
4. Transition Phase
5. Peak Performance Phase

I have attached two examples of how I do things. I am posting so that you can get a general idea. I learned, and adapted this format from two coaches that I highly respect-Dick Hannula and Jon Urbanchek. If you will look at Figure 1 this is the page in my graph paper book where I list important dates and the number of days to the key meets in the season. At the bottom of page one I list the Phases for the 2019-2020 College Season. For this season I had two time periods where we rested for a key meet. The first Peak Performance period was for the University of Missouri Invitation and the second Peak Performance Period was for our Conference Championships.

On page two of Figure 1 I begin the day to day plan and the training categories that I use. This is the part of the planning process where it is important to be well thought out and planned. When you write a basic outline for what you are going to be working on you must be aware of important dates. These may include the dates of meets, when the holidays and breaks are going to be. This part of the plan must also be flexible enough to allow for individual adaptation for the student-athletes. For example if a student-athlete has met a goal time before the "big meet" then the plan may need to reflect an change it what you are going to do for that athlete. The same is also true in reverse. For instance if a student-athlete gets injured, or sick and misses significant practice time the plan must reflect changes that you will make to address the long term health of the student-athlete. The plan should then reflect you changing the training categories to aid in bringing the student-athlete back to full health.

Figure 1 Sample Seasonal Plan Outline

Figure 2 is the monthly handout I give to the student-athletes so that they know what we are going to be working on. On these "blank' monthly calendars I list the training categories, primary sets and any test sets that the athletes will do. I think this is important for the student-athlete to see and know where they are headed and what they are gong to be doing so that they can set daily practice goals. I also like the student-athletes to be able to see what phase we are in and the dates of those phases so they can set, and adjust their goals as needed. There is also a chance, and I mention this because I have experienced this, that once you hand out this monthly calendar a student-athlete might find in convenient to miss on a given day because they do not want to do what is scheduled. People and people and will take short cuts, but this is where you must educate them on why they did to do what you have planned. You can do it. If you have educated your student-athletes on the need for these sets, the majority of the swimmers are going to look forward to the chance to to something that will help them achieve their goals.

Figure 2 Monthly Seasonal Plan September 16-November 9, 2020

Conclusion

I will finish this blog post on planning by summarizing the primary things that our plan should be:

1. Set up your plan based on where you want the club and swimmers to be-at the end of the year, or at the end of 2-3-4 years.

2. The plan should reflect your training and coaching philosophy.

3. The plan should be designed for your student-athletes and where they are in their development. 

4. The Plan must be written to help the student-athlete achieve their goals and make progress form year 1-2-3-4 etc....

5. The Plan must be well thought out, organized, adaptable and flexible to the club and student-athletes changing and growing needs.

6. The Plan should be evaluated and updated as needed based on the individual student-athletes needs

One final thought on planning. I never use the same plan twice because student-athletes change and grow, times change and each year is an entirely new season. Good luck and good planning.